Desperate Measures
Title: '''Desperate Measures '''Players: Ham Tyler, Juliet Parrish, and Michael Donovan Location: Maxwell Ranch and L.A.: Club Creole Synopsis: Ham and Mike rush to rescue Julie again… Only to find it is not exactly a rescue mission LOG BEGINS: Ham Tyler is standing in front of a punching bag, punching the bag. He seems to be working out, and this is Ham, the consummate lazy one when it comes to such things. Michael Donovan strides in purposefully, with that grim, 'We've-got-a-mission' look on his face. "Need something a bit more lively to take a swing at?" he asks in all seriousness. Ham Tyler arches an eyebrow, "Always… what do you have in mind, Gooder? You know, you don't plan the best…" Yup, same old Ham. Michael Donovan frowns a bit and answers, "Don't know," thereby proving Ham's point for him. "Got a call from Julie. Sounds like trouble. She wants to meet up with us at the Club. The way I figure, the problem's either wearing slime and scales or slime and a business suit. Either way, if it's got a face, I figure we can punch it in it." Ham Tyler nods, "Very well…" He moves and grabs a towel, "Give me 5 minutes to change my clothes, and than we'll go see what we get to punch." Michael Donovan smirks at that and shrugs, "I'll give you three." Ham Tyler nods, and moves to the stairs, "Meet you in the yard in 3 minutes." Travel to the Club Removed Juliet Parrish is busy pacing up a storm against the one back wall of the hideout, looking rather shaken and none too happy. And really, who can blame her. She's pale, and yup, looks like she's been crying, though that seems to have stopped now. Michael Donovan rushes into the hideout, the look of concern on his face painfully obvious. It doesn't wane in the slightest when he finally sees Julie. "Are you alright?" he asks her as he rushes to her side. Ham Tyler and Mike arrive from different directions, yup, it is for security. He looks at Julie, "Julie?" Juliet Parrish tenses as she hears someone coming down, and then, when she sees Mike, she heads directly for him. "Guess who was in my lab when I got to work this morning." she offers with a sarcastic, actually frightened, titter of laughter. Michael Donovan wraps his arms around Julie, offering the sort of support that comes most easily to him. "From the sound of things, it wasn't Ed McMahon with a million dollar check…" There's that patented Donovan sense of gallows humor. Ham Tyler frowns, looking Julie over carefully, "And since you work with Bates daily…. I'd guess a Visitor… The Bitch Queen herself, perhaps, Diana?" Juliet Parrish nods slightly to Ham, closing her eyes as she rests against Mike. "She tricked me into telling her I shot the little lizard, her lieutenant." she murmurs. Michael Donovan frowns deeply at that. "It was self-defense. What the heck were you supposed to think with someone creeping in by way of the window? That the Girl Scouts have started employing guerrilla tactics in order to sell more cookies?" Ham Tyler says softly, "Damn… But she didn't try to take you in? She must want something, or Bates wouldn't let her…." He looks at Mike, and shakes his head, knowing Julie pretty well, enough to know that Diana visiting wouldn't make her have a crying fit, so it has to be something worse. "The nightmares had just stopped," Julie whispers, before sighing. "She gave me an ultimatum…she gave me a 'chance' to avoid arrest. By getting you to take me into the Resistance so I can tell her where you hide out…" Michael Donovan heaves a sigh at that. "Can't you say that we wouldn't take you into our confidence? Since there's no love lost between the Resistance and Bates, it's a reasonable cover story that we wouldn't be able to trust you either…" Ham Tyler frowns, "Gooder, would Diana, knowing your previous relationship, believe that story?" He sits down, and looks over at Mike and Julie, "So here is what we do… We change our Safe Houses, and let Julie give them one…. No one there." He pauses, "Of course, even that could backfire… Diana could than have Julie imprisoned for being in the Resistance." He sighs, "Really between a rock and a hard place here…" Juliet Parrish inhales deeply. She's not going to tell them what the alternative is. "You two tell me how you want to handle this. I…am not the best one to make a decision at this point." She shudders gently. She knows what will happen if they choose to go with Michael's route, but…she needs to know what's best for the Resistance, and her mind is rather focused on self-preservation, and she knows she isn't thinking straight. She glances at Ham, and shrugs. "Honestly, Ham…at this point, if I give her a safe house that isn't any good, she'll arrest me for shooting Mika. If I don't get into the Resistance, she'll arrest me, and if I get into the Resistance and don't give her a safe house, we've lost all that we sacrificed to gain in Science Frontiers…" She shivers again hugging Mike tighter. "I think there's really only one choice." Michael Donovan raises an eyebrow at what Julie might think her only recourse is. "We cut our losses then," he replies with conviction. "We'll find another way to deal with Bates." The look in his eyes is easily readable. He's not willing to give Julie up to anybody, least of all Diana. Ham Tyler shrugs, "Fine. I think I know the choice she gave you. Help her, or face death, or a fate worse than death." He shrugs, "We aren't going to let you throw your life away." He pauses, "Or worse, face torture…" He sighs, and closes his eyes briefly, "The least dangerous solution is that you give Nathan your resignation, and tell him you are going to New York." He shrugs, "Sure, we loose the potential intelligence you could garner, but… we also gain the popular leader of our group back full time. I am not going to tell you that you have to, but I will say, that between Mike and I, we will do our best to prevent you from going to Diana…." Juliet Parrish sighs, closing her eyes for a long, long time without speaking. "I'm sorry I put you both in this situation. Put everyone in this situation…I fucked up, like an idiot I fell right where she wanted me to." She tries to pull away from Mike, growing angry with herself. "And she knew just the buttons to push. Some leader I am." Michael Donovan pulls Julie back towards him, not letting her escape the embrace -that- easily. "You didn't fuck up. You got yourself out of a bad situation with your skin intact. Don't you think if Diana wanted to, she could have gotten the same results by running you through the conversion chamber again and using you to get us like she did with Sean? You're alive, free, and safe. We can figure out how to handle the rest." Ham Tyler says softly, "I have an idea… and it should work." He waits to see if he has Donovan and Julie's attention. "If I don't do what she wants, Mike…that's exactly where I'm going to end up." Again. Julie bites her bottom lip, the image planted earlier flashing through her mind again, and she tightens her arms around Mike. "That was -not- you…" she whispers, mostly for her own benefit before Ham's comment catches her attention. Michael Donovan looks over at Ham somewhat curiously. "What have you got for us?" he asks, knowing that every once in a great while, the so-called "Fixer" can come up with a good idea or two. Ham Tyler says simply, "Diana wants Resistance Headquarters… we give it to her. We give her Resistance Headquarters, the Club Creole. I know, sounds bad… but we could do it. Wire the place to blow upstairs. Julie tells that bitch where to find us, they come in, and attack. We fight back, and retreat to the kitchen… as soon as we think there is a lot of Visitors inside, we slip into the freezer, flip the switch, and the place blows to hell. We get down here, and keep the alley entrance covered. Diana will figure a big cache of Weapons blew up or something like that. We can even make it appear that way, with the right stuff left up top…." He stands up, "Sure, Elias will have to be convinced, and we loose some of the income… but we can make up for that with Food Shipments from up north… In the end, Diana and Bates will both figure the Resistance is gone, along with myself, Donovan, and the others she wants dead… Which will please Diana greatly. This will than allow you to go back to Science Frontiers, and be beyond doubt, a good little member of Bates' group. That will make Bates happy… not to mention the fact that Bates will than be glad to know what he has to see as his main competition for your affections will be so much Ash." He shrugs, "There are some flaws, but for the most part, it handles most of the problems. As soon as the Visitors leave, the rest of us here… only a few, easier to hide, can head back to the Ranch, and lay low for awhile. When we do come back to life, we just denounce Julie as a Traitor to the Resistance, which keeps her name clear." Juliet Parrish listens to Ham, trying to keep her warring emotions under control (she hates feeling this way!), before nodding. "That…might work." she agrees softly. Michael Donovan looks mildly impressed. "It's worth a shot," he concurs. "We would have to set things up here convincingly enough, though. Make it look like we've been operating out of the place for months. Give Diana and her stooges reason enough to believe that we really operated out of here…" "She thinks you do," Julie murmurs. "I told her I didn't know where to start to get in contact with you, Ham, and she told me to try here…" Ham Tyler nods slightly, "Even better than my idea than. I have 6 months worth of damaged weapons, and the empty shells of the weapons we have been using. I was going to place them around." He looks thoughtful, "I will convince Taylor, leave that part to me, and we need to make sure that Julie is seen with at least one of us…" He sighs, "And we had better kill the Visitor Lt. and leave her body somewhere. She can identify the location being in the Dust Zone…" He shrugs, "Or we get rid of her now, somewhere in the city… Somewhere we can make her think she was dropped off a good distance from here, and that the Pills she was given was to convince her she was not actually in LA…" Juliet Parrish shakes her head, pulling back again from Mike…or trying to. "No…kill the bitch, she the reason for all of this, and I don't want her identifying me. I know it's slim, but…kill her. As soon as you can, Ham…" She eyes the man she's just given the order to…maybe she isn't thinking straight, but oh well. Ham Tyler nods slightly, "Yes Ma'am… Consider her dead…" Michael Donovan frowns gravely at the decision, but doesn't comment one way or the other, knowing the risk is too great to really seriously entertain a more humane alternative. Juliet Parrish has been very humane! She hasn't even let anyone hurt Mika so far. But now…it's just too risky. A heavy sigh, the decision not easy for Juliet to have made herself, and she slumps back against Michael. "We have two weeks…or until we dump the lizards body." She pauses. "You know…we could even plant her body here, make them think it was right under their noses…" Ham Tyler nods, "That is probably a good plan… Keep her at the fringes of the Explosion, and make sure she is identifiable…." He looks thoughtful, "Have her body placed where the explosion will have debris fall on her, not destroy the evidence." He nods, "As soon as I get back to the Ranch, I'll kill her… We should do this as soon as possible… couple days to get the explosives, another day to wire them right, and a fourth day to make sure everything is set…?" Juliet Parrish closes her eyes, a hand lifting to rub at her forehead. "I should go home." Not that she'll sleep. She knows that. It's been a long time since she felt this way, but she knows what it means. No peaceful, restful sleep…especially without Donovan…and then she blinks. "You know…" She smiles slowly, faintly. "This means you can come back to my place Mike…to prove you still love me." Ham Tyler rolls his eyes, and says, "Might that not be moving a little fast?" He smirks, "But than, what do I know about relationships?" Michael Donovan takes a deep breath as he thinks. "If we do it that way, maybe it'd be better to take care of her closer to the date of the big fireworks. If she's dead for too long, if they do an autopsy they might get suspicious…" He would continue, but then his attention is dragged abruptly towards Julie's last remark. His eyes find themselves trapped in hers for a long moment. "I think I can rise to that challenge," he answers with a sly grin on his face. Ham Tyler rolls his eyes at the sappy stuff, and says simply, "We keep her in the freezer. Time of death will be harder to determine than… Or we dump her body somewhere where it won't be discovered for a few days. I'd rather not risk her escape…" Juliet Parrish smiles back up at Michael for a moment, though her gaze is troubled, before she tears her attention back to Ham. "Keep her unconscious then. Hit her in the head enough…if debris lands on her, if it's heavy debris, no one will know the difference." Ham Tyler frowns slightly and shrugs, "We'll figure something out…. You two go… I'll talk to Elias." Juliet Parrish hesitates a moment, before stepping away from Mike to move to Ham. She gives him a quick hug, and peck on the cheek, before whispering to him. She then steps back to Mike, taking his hand, and heading up towards the restaurant. Juliet Parrish whispers: Under there is a heart that really cares…Diana gave me a replay of exactly what I went through last time. Thank you for not letting me go through it again… Ham Tyler blushes at the hug and kiss, uncomfortable, but he nods slightly, "Anytime Doc…" Juliet Parrish leaves with Donovan. Awww. LOG ENDS Category:Log Category:RATED-R